The glass has been removed from the side boards at Mile One Centre in St. John’s, Newfoundland as the 2014 AHL All-Star Classic Skills Competition takes place with the AHL defeating Färjestad BK 18-17 in a shootout. Binghamton Senators Mike Hoffman wins the fastest skater contest with a time of 13.990 seconds over seven other competitors. Hoffman would end up taking a belly flop as he crossed the line and had this to say when asked about it;
Dec 5, 2013; Tampa, FL, USA; Ottawa Senators left wing Mike Hoffman (68) against the Tampa Bay Lightning during the first period at Tampa Bay Times Forum. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
"Yea, I don’t know if I fooled the sensors there a little bit, but might have got a little lucky to get the win,but it’s all good."
Hoffman would later partake in the Breakaway Relay as Mike was the fifth shooter and scores on a backhand tip in by Frederik Pettersson-Wentzel. As he slithered in on the BK netminder Hoff faked a shot that left the puck sticking to his tape for the nifty deke. As what the announcers claimed “perfecting the Forsberg shot”, which I have no idea what that means but it was a pretty move by Hoff.
With the competition tied up at 17 a piece, Hoffman was elected as the second shooter in the tie breaking shootout only to have his quick snapshot blocked as Wentzel gets his revenge from the earlier goal. Jason Jaffray would eventually score as the third shooter to seal the event with the AHL team defeating Färjestad BK 18-17 to the delight of his home crowd.
The event had the international flavor added to it and although I’m old school, it was pretty darn entertaining to watch. Magnus Nygren breaks the hardest shot record of 102.8 held by Mark Mancari when the event took place in Binghamton in 2008, with 104.6 which was damn impressive. Wednesday night the actual game takes place and should be a good one as FBK has some talented players and know one another real well.
The rest of the overall results can be found here.